ANCYL: Protesting reports untrue

2012-08-07 16:32

(File, Sapa)

Lauren Hess, News24

Cape Town - Reports about ANC Youth League members bringing Cape Town to a standstill with protests on Wednesday are untrue, the group told News24.

The Western Cape ANCYL’s chairperson Khaya Yozi said “there will be no protests or marches” on Wednesday.

The ANC’s Loyiso Nkohla was quoted as saying that if the group did not get a “satisfactory response” from provincial authorities on its list of demands, it would make Cape Town “ungovernable”.

But Yozi told News24 that Nkohla was possibly misquoted and said the ANCYL would in fact be marching on the 27th of August.

Yozi said the ANCYL planned to march on the 27th of every month as a symbol of 27 schools being shut down by provincial authorities.

He said that making the province “ungovernable” did not mean resorting to violence but that marchers would create “immobility” in the province.

In its list of demands, the ANCYL said it wanted a detailed timeline for better housing, sanitation and basic toilet facilities.

Yozi said they are awaiting a response from Premier Helen Zille and Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille and if none was received by 16:00 on Tuesday, they will discuss a plan of action.

Last week, Zille and De Lille laid charges of intimidation against the league for its pledge to make the province ungovernable.

"This [last Wednesday] afternoon, Mayor Patricia de Lille and I formally laid criminal complaints against the ANCYL [and four other organisations]... in relation to offences that have been committed, as outlined in the Intimidation Act of 1982," Zille said in a statement.

"This threat comes against the backdrop of a number violent service delivery protests that have taken place in the city in recent days."

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